Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Plea for Justice and Declaration of Righteousness
A Psalm of David.
26 Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and my mind.
3 For thy steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in faithfulness to thee.[a]
4 I do not sit with false men,
nor do I consort with dissemblers;
5 I hate the company of evildoers,
and I will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands in innocence,
and go about thy altar, O Lord,
7 singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
and telling all thy wondrous deeds.
8 O Lord, I love the habitation of thy house,
and the place where thy glory dwells.
9 Sweep me not away with sinners,
nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 men in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the great congregation I will bless the Lord.
Edom Mistreated His Brother
10 For the violence done to your brother Jacob,
shame shall cover you,
and you shall be cut off for ever.
11 On the day that you stood aloof,
on the day that strangers carried off his wealth,
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you were like one of them.
12 But you should not have gloated over the day of your brother
in the day of his misfortune;
you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah
in the day of their ruin;
you should not have boasted
in the day of distress.
13 You should not have entered the gate of my people
in the day of his calamity;
you should not have gloated over his disaster
in the day of his calamity;
you should not have looted his goods
in the day of his calamity.
14 You should not have stood at the parting of the ways
to cut off his fugitives;
you should not have delivered up his survivors
in the day of distress.
15 For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you,
your deeds shall return on your own head.
16 For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain,
all the nations round about shall drink;
they shall drink, and stagger,[a]
and shall be as though they had not been.
The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer
8 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; 4 and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.